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OpenSciEd School Grant Application

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Welcome and thank you for your interest in OpenSciEd (OSE). Feel free to reach out to Heather Haines at One8 Applied Learning Hub ([email protected]) with any questions.

Application Instructions
  1. Please review the program overview & FAQs.
  2. Complete one application per school.
  3. Submit all applications by February 14, 2024.
  4. Progress on the application can be saved - it does not need to be completed in one sitting.
  5. Please click here to view a downloadable blank copy of this application for your reference.
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Please note: Public schools in MA that have students in grades 6, 7, and/or 8 AND are in districts with at least 15% of students designated as economically disadvantaged are eligible to apply.
Important Dates
February 14, 2024
Grant Application Due 

March 11-13, 2024
School Interviews

March 27, 2024
Award Notification 

April 24, 2024 - at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA
Cohort Kickoff Convening
High Level Programming Expectations
A competitive application will include a plan to achieve the following program expectations over the three years of grant implementation.

Full adoption of all 6 OpenSciEd units at each grade level (6 through 8) offered in the school by year 3
  1. 100% of students at each grade level participating by year 3
  2. 100% of science teachers in grades 6-8 participating by year 3
  3. All participating science teachers complete the OSE Launch Professional Learning (PL) and three additional unit-specific PLs
  4. Grade level champion(s) completes training for all six units
School/district resources identified to cover additional costs (e.g., consumables)

Note: grant funding is intended to support high-quality adoption of OpenSciEd curricular resources and more specifically to offset the costs associated with launching the program. Schools will be provided three payments over three years and schools will pay vendors directly. Grant award sizes are determined by school sizes and based on two key start-up costs:
  1. Professional learning for teachers: all teachers attend PL for four units each
  2. Durable equipment kits: schools can receive up to $650 per unit per teacher, for all six units
Grant awards are automatically calculated in the grant application and the average grant size is approximately $40,000. Grants sizes will vary based on school size and will generally exceed the average for large schools.

School Information

1) Please select your district and school.

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2) Please provide the name and contact information of the primary grant contact.






Note: if the grant is awarded, the superintendent will sign the cohort participation and grant agreement.





8) How many science teachers are there for the following grades?  (Note: If a teacher is teaching multiple grade levels please use a fraction/FTE to indicate- for example if a teacher has one section in 7th and one section in 8th grade, please indicate 0.5 in 7th grade and 0.5 in 8th grade)



Science Vision and Goals







Staffing Program

Staffing and Program Champions

Please identify teacher-leader, school-level, and district-level “champions” of the program.
In this context, a champion is an educator who is knowledgeable of OpenSciEd and the grant requirements, as well as someone who is committed to high-quality implementation. These champions are required to attend the April 24, 2024 cohort kickoff convening.
Teacher-Leader Champion
Teacher-Leader Champions are science teachers who will be implementing OSE and helping lead the work with their colleagues. These champions should be knowledgeable about OSE and excited to lead the work with other science teachers. All participating teachers will be trained in 4 units, and the teacher-leader champion(s) commit to be trained in all units at the grade level (i.e. 6 units for their grade) and help support their colleagues with these units.






Note: a champion is needed for all grade levels.  This application will allow you to enter multiple champions.

Teacher-Leader Champion #2






Note: a champion is needed for all grade levels.  This application will allow you to enter multiple champions.

Teacher-Leader Champion #3





Note: a champion is needed for all grade levels. 

School-Leader Champion
The school leader champion is a school leader (e.g., Principal, Assistant Principal, Department Chair) who leads the OSE implementation at the school level. Ideally, this champion will be in a leadership position and have the ability to inform common planning time/department meetings, observe teachers, review data, and make budgeting/scheduling decisions. These champions should be knowledgeable about OSE and excited to lead the work. These champions are strongly encouraged to attend a unit-specific Professional Learning (PL) in addition to leader-specific PL to learn about OSE.




District-Level Champion
The district champion is a district leader (e.g., Assistant Superintendent, Science/STEM Director, CAO) who leads the OSE implementation at the district level, often across schools. Ideally, this champion will be in a leadership position and have the ability to inform common planning time/department meetings, observe teachers, review data, make budgeting/scheduling decisions, and hold a cross school view. These champions should be knowledgeable of OSE and excited to lead the work. These champions are strongly encouraged to attend a unit-specific PL in addition to leader-specific professional development to learn about OSE.











Implementation Plan

Please use the following tables to outline how you will roll out OpenSciEd in your school. Which grade levels will participate when? How many teachers will be included? What units will be offered? Remember that as grant recipients and members of the cohort program, schools are expected to offer all 6 OpenSciEd units to 100% of students at each grade level by Year 3 (2026-27). 
Table A1: Please enter the estimated number of students participating in OpenSciEd by grade level over time. 
Year 1: 2024-25 Year 2: 2025-26 Year 3: 2026-27
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8

(Note: The numbers should represent the discrete number of participating students in that school year.  It should not indicate new students or be cumulative over years.)

Table A2: Please enter the estimated percentage of students participating in OpenSciEd by grade level over time. 
Year 1: 2024-25 Year 2: 2025-26 Year 3: 2026-27
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Table B: Please enter the estimated number of teachers participating in OpenSciEd by grade level over time. 
Year 1: 2024-25 Year 2: 2025-26 Year 3: 2026-27
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8

Implementation Plan (Continued)

Table C: Please indicate which units will be offered at each grade level over the three year rollout. * Please click here to view the MA specific OSE scope and sequence. 


To meet the grant requirement, each grade level needs to teach 6 units by the end of Year 3.


Note: asterisks denote units that appear in a different grade level in the national OpenSciEd scope and sequence.

Grade 6



Grade 7



Grade 8




Budget

Use the two tables below to calculate the grant funding request.  
  1. Professional learning (PL) for teachers: All science teachers in the building complete 4 PL workshops over the three-year grant (1 Launch and 3 unit-specific sessions).
  2. Durable equipment kits: all teachers receive a one-time $650 durable equipment allowance for each unit offered.
Please note: grants also include a stipend for teacher-leader champions to train in units 5&6 and also provide an extra PL allowance for new teachers.  This funding will be calculated automatically and does NOT need to be included in the tables below.

Confused? That's okay! Reach out to Heather Haines ([email protected]) for help.


23) Teacher Professional Learning

Please indicate the number of teachers requiring PL over time.

Do not include PL for teacher-leader champions to train in units 5 & 6. If there are no teachers training in a particular unit in a particular year, enter a 0.


Year 1: 2024-25 Year 2: 2025-26 Year 3: 2026-27
Launch PL (unit 1)
PL for unit 2
PL for unit 3
PL for unit 4

24) Durable Equipment
Enter the number of new durable kits needed at each grade level over the three years.  The number of new kits = # of teachers multiplied by the # of new units they are teaching for the first time.  

If correct, the sum of the numbers in the grid should equal the number of teachers x 6. If there are no teachers implementing a unit for the first time in a particular year, enter a 0.

Year 1: 2024-25 Year 2: 2025-26 Year 3: 2026-27
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8

Budget and Narrative

Funding Request
 The tables below contain calculated grant amounts corresponding to the worksheet you filled out on the previous page. If you wish to make adjustments to the amounts, please return to the previous page and edit your estimated teacher PL and kit numbers. 

Need help thinking through the budget? Check out this budget planning worksheet and/or get in touch with Heather Haines ([email protected]).

Budget assumptions
  • Launch PL: $700 (per teacher)
  • Unit PL: $500 (per teacher)
  • Kit: $650
  • Teacher-leader allowance: Up to $3,000 depending on grades offered 
  • New teacher allowance: Up to $2,800 depending on school size
Year 1: 2024-25 Year 2: 2025-26 Year 3: 2026-27
Launch PL (unit 1)
PD for unit 2
PD for unit 3 
PD for unit 4 
Costs of durable equipment (in dollars)
Year 1: 2024-25 Year 2: 2025-26 Year 3: 2026-27
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Cost totals
Year 1: 2024-25 Year 2: 2025-26 Year 3: 2026-27
Durable equipment kits subtotals
Teacher professional learning subtotals
Teacher-leader PL allowance
New teacher allowance
Grant request totals

Total grant request

Note: total grant award will be paid in three disbursements:
50% of total grant award in year 1
30% of total grant award in year 2
20% of total grant award in year 3
Year 1 disbursement
Year 2 disbursement
Year 3 disbursement
Grand total

Finance Contact






To whom do we make out the check?




Interview and Submission

Interview Scheduling
As part of the grant application process, schools may be invited to participate in a 45 minute interview. We are asking all applicants to schedule a tentative interview time now and the team will confirm the interview at latest one week prior to the date and time selected.  

We suggest including the primary grant applicant, as well as the district-level, school-level, and teacher-leader champions as appropriate and possible.

Please schedule your team for an application interview by visiting the Calendly scheduling page.

Programming Expectations

Note: Shortly after submitting the application, the primary grant contact will receive a confirmation email. If they do not see that email within a few hours, please check your junk mail or reach out to [email protected].
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